Often we come across small, privately owned businesses on Instagram or Facebook trying to promote their work, be it cooking, designing clothes, pottery, or furniture decor, and the list can go on endlessly. In what was an intelligent entrepreneurial decision, Rania Atef initiated the “I Make This” Facebook group that brought together thousands of female-run startups all in one place.
“I Make This” is a group made by a woman for other women who have small and medium businesses where they can advertise, for free, to a huge market. The products showcased on the group include “food, fashion, arts, jewellery, gifts, home decor, kids, pets, and freelance services,” according to the page. Atef explained that women who don’t make anything are free to join too so they can buy products and review them.
How Did This Start?
Atef had done her masters at the London School of Economics in a research oriented area of study, eventually married a diplomat and spent a lot of time travelling and relocating to different countries. In the background of all that, she was also passionate about photography; particularly family photography. And, she herself wanted to market her own photography work but found difficulty in finding any groups or online platforms where she could do so.
“I initially created the group to market my own work,” she said, because generally, marketing products on social media is expensive. It costs a lot to boost posts, and not all other group owners with large participants will accept self-marketing posts too. And this is why ‘I Make This’ was made to help women market their work easily, Atef added.
At the beginning, Atef explained that it was a group between friends, and friends of friends, but it quickly grew and got a massive response rate. People began adding their own friends, and so the circle grew bigger and bigger each day. Currently, the group has 173.9k members.
“I didn’t expect that this many people would join at all. It was all initially between friends but after one month of making it, I was already struggling to keep up with posting… The milestone was 6k in two weeks and that was phenomenal actually,” she shared.
But with the amount of posts coming in every single day, it can be a challenge to keep up and decide what actually gets posted. She said that there are some days where the page might receive over 200 posts. “I decide based on several things including if the story is inspirational and also depending on how many times this person has already posted before or not,” she added.
A quick scroll through the group will show anyone that an overwhelming majority of the products are appealing, and Atef says ‘I Make This’ was quite lucky because that was the case from very early on as well.
But of course no group is without challenges. Atef explained that there can often be debates on prices in general. While the ‘makers’ behind the products and/ or services are required to clearly state their prices in posts, buyers can sometimes comment saying that something is overpriced.
Generally, not all the makers know what the market prices are; however, ‘I Make This’ is part of a learning experience for the up and coming entrepreneurs too, hence commenting politely can help guide them.
“A lot of things are handmade, take effort, and raw materials often cost a lot of money too…It’s about how we tell a maker that something may be overpriced. We still need to be supportive without diminishing someone’s effort,” Atef said.
On Women Entrepreneurs & Women Empowerment
At first glance, one will see beautiful products and tremendous support for one another. But another, deeper look will show you empowered women empowering one another. The essence of the whole Facebook group is for women to support other women by promoting their products and services, and as it is a ‘ladies only’ group, it’s no surprise that it can easily become a symbol of women entrepreneurial empowerment.
“I didn’t expect that many [women], but if you think about it, there probably are a lot of women entrepreneurs. I myself know a good amount of them. I think it’s just that not all are in one place so we don’t notice it,” but because they all exist in the group together, it serves to show how many women are running their own small businesses.
There are constantly new posts from new women entrepreneurs every day. And every day, these women are receiving positive feedback from other women on the group. Atef shared that the positive feedback goes beyond likes, comments and buying, sometimes other women call ‘makers’ and offer their support, suggestions and guidance too.
A clear example of women empowerment comes from the “I Make This Lab”. Atef explained that this is another Facebook group for the ‘makers’ and ‘entrepreneurs’ behind the projects. It serves as a platform for them to learn from each other and learn from experts too.
For example, Kiri is currently one of the group’s sponsors that did a competition where the makers get to showcase their children’s talents. “The deal always has to be able to give the makers something in return, such as a one month session on social media marketing or advice on running a business,” she said.
“I Make This Lab” is what keeps the makers engaged and encouraged to keep going because there is constant assistance from one another, and regular online sessions to give guidance.
There is a visible boom in startups and small businesses, especially during COVID-19 with everyone being given all this extra time to stay at home. Some of the women who joined the group just to buy products or read stories and be part of the community, found themselves considering doing their own projects too.
“Some people used the group as a trial. They’d test out their idea and see if it works, if people are enthusiastic about it, and if it develops,” said Atef. And a lot of the time, these projects do succeed.
“All in all, the main person behind the project has to be a woman. It’s fine if she has male partners, but a woman needs to be one of the leaders. A second rule is that it needs to be some sort of innovation or service that she is marketing. It can’t be buying clothes and selling them for example,” Atef said.
Some of the women on the Facebook group actually work full time elsewhere or have part time jobs, and do these projects as ‘side projects’. Sometimes, if a project does really well, quitting her full time job can be an option, but it can be risky if a small business is your only source of income.
Regardless, stay at home moms or women who aren’t working at all, may find joy and personal satisfaction when working on their own small businesses.
What’s Coming Up?
Briefly, a lot is coming up for “I Make This”. What began as a friendly project and moved into a startup, is now developing into a business. “We are moving into a new stage… and developing a website and app by October hopefully,” said Atef.
The main mission remains constant; and that is being a market for women to market their work. The only difference is that the documentation process and ability to go back and view products is going to get better with the development of a website.
“This will help in documentation of products as well because no matter how organized social media is, posts can still get lost. Also, most businesses don’t have their own websites, so this will be good for them too. This way, they’ll have their own ‘shop’ on the website, and the same goes for services,” Atef elaborated.
This will also fix the neverending issue of women who want to post more than once. With a website, the product will always be visible for anyone to check it out.
Moreover, events are coming up too. Before COVID-19, Atef had plans to do one, but it inevitably did not happen.
Considering everything 2020 has put us through, seeing “I Make This” with women coming together in support of each other’s projects surely puts a smile on our faces.
“I wish that the ‘I Make This Lab’ could also allow the women to actually work together on their projects. For example, if they were to do a photoshoot, several products can be showcased creatively in one photo,” Atef shared.
There is surely a lot more to come from this special, one of a kind Facebook group. And there is also surely a lot to come from the entrepreneurs behind every project and service that was showcased.
